


Thorns

by PrinceHandsome



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-16
Updated: 2012-08-16
Packaged: 2017-11-29 09:10:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/685257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceHandsome/pseuds/PrinceHandsome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A companion story to 'She Who Hunts Monsters', Fortis Filius joins Sancti Puella and Samantha Regina on their journey, providing a more level-headed and good natured view of things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thorns

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you."

\- Winnie The Pooh

\--

I stand with the other centurions, all of us palling around, trying to flex and show off for the girl we have to escort. Samantha Regina. I'm not exactly sure what she did to get kicked out, but it must have been pretty bad. We're going from the ass end of Nevada all the way up to Washington. Oh, I'm sorry, I mean from glorious Rome to the great, unknown rainforest to the north. Sometimes I forget that these Roman guys are for real. I used to live in Las Vegas, doing whatever work came to me. I wasn't called Fortis Filius back then, but I guess that doesn't really matter. I'm a bona-fide Roman now, a Centurion even. Well, maybe not for much longer. If we do survive the bandits in the desert, I'm sure whatever anarchy is waiting for us in the woods will do us in.

A woman in golden armor walks past me, smelling of sweat and blood. She's probably just gotten out of the arena. We all recognize her. Praetorite Puella is her nickname, or Saint Puella if we're getting sarcastic, but none would ever say it to her face. She's the Chosen of the guy in charge, the guy calling himself Octavius Caesar, which basically means she's the biggest badass around this so called city.

She kneels before Samantha and says she's gonna help us out, and suddenly I feel a lot better about our chances.

\--

"Bandits!" I hear Sancti shout.

She has a lot better instinct than I do, but I'm no slouch when it comes to turning back people who want to kill me. I grab my machete and bury it in the face of an attacking bandit, clocking another one in the jaw, letting one of my fellow Centurions finish him off. I notice Sancti taking on the brunt of them, moving fluidly between the attacks, taking on each one without breaking a sweat.

I think I'm in love.

\--

Sancti finishes off the last Centurion and then turns her spear on me, holding it to my throat.

"Why did you not defend her? Why did you not try to kill me?" She screams at me, completely out of control.

Words catch in my throat. I want to tell her it's because I've fallen in love with her. I want to tell her it's because I want to join her and kill Regina, but I don't.

"Because I'm smart. I've, uh, seen you practicing. Not that I was looking, or anything, but I know you'd outclass an entire legion with that spear of yours. So, uh, it'd be nice if you didn't kill me, or whatever." I say, stumbling over my own words.

Before Sancti has time to consider my case, Samantha throws a knife at her. Sancti turns and deflects it before yelling something at Regina, me being too dazed to catch it. The two start to duel, Sancti with her spear and Samantha with her throwing daggers. Sancti catches Samantha and slices her mouth and I think for a minute that she might win and slay the little girl, but she takes advantage of Sancti's rage to surprise her with a concealed dagger, stabbing her into the gut, deep and hard. I've seen it enough times to know it's a killing blow. I spring to my feet and rush over to her, catching her before she even hits the ground. I'm shaking, but I try to keep my cool, try to keep control over my voice.

"Come on Sancti, stay with me, come on." I plead, watching Sancti slowly bleed out in my arms.

"Leave her, my son. She was a heretic. There is no place for her in the new world." Samantha says to me.

I simply glare at her and hoist Sancti up in my arms.

"I'm bringing her with us. We might be able to find someone who can fix her." I insist.

Samantha looks me up and down before nodding slowly.

"I believe there is someone who can. Load up the remaining caravan with the dead. They will be reborn." She said, beginning to smile in that smug way she always does.

I do as she asks, putting body after body inside the caravan. Sancti was methodical, at the very least. There weren't many pieces to pick up. Finally, I grab Sancti, sitting her next to me in the front seat. Samantha arranges a makeshift palanquin atop the caravan, and I start driving, my hands shaking a bit in anxiety and anticipation.

"So, who do you think can fix them?" I yell back to Samantha.

"An organization I've been exchanging messages with. Rather like-minded individuals. They're of Chinese Royalty. The Guaishou." She replies.

A shiver runs down my spine. I heard stories of them, back in Vegas. They say that they're like ninjas straight out of the old movies, with magical powers to boot. I've always been told to never tangle with them, and especially never make a deal with them.

\--

"My Lady! Such a pleasure to finally meet you!" Samantha says sweetly, hugging an asian woman in ornate blue robes.

We've made it to Northern California, and it's looking bad up here. Much worse than the reports made it sound. I heard that the San Andreas Fault acted up real bad a few years ago, but apparently 'real bad' was underselling it. It looks like the mouth of hell tore the ground open and the ensuing earthquakes pretty much sent everything else into ruin. It looks like the Guaishou set up a series of houses for their followers, though. They look really nice and pristine, incredibly out of place among the rubble and homeless. I'm amazed they haven't been ransacked ten times over by bandits by now.

"I require assistance, my dear. My followers, they're rather inept at staying alive, you see..." Samantha began, but the woman waved her hand dismissively.

"Anything for a God. I will provide you with as much of our miracles as you require." She said, an air of heavy sarcasm and mockery in her voice.

I can tell Samantha picked up on it as well. She doesn't look happy, and I fear we're about to get into a brawl, but for once she doesn't give the kill order, simply smiling.

"You mock me. You believe yourself superior to me?" Samantha asks.

"I do." The woman in blue says bluntly.

Silence falls over us. I'm nervous, fidgeting, ready to fight or to leave. It doesn't make much of a difference to me, really. I just want something to happen. Finally, after a few minutes, Samantha and the woman both begin to laugh, which confuses the hell out of me.

"Ming, your sense of humor hasn't improved." Samantha says, patting her on the shoulder.

"Well, I didn't exactly learn from the best." The woman in blue says back, laughing along with Samantha.

I let out a long sigh of relief, glad I wouldn't have to be brawling with any ninjas today.

"I will provide you with enough Lazarus to keep your army standing for a hundred years. It is the least I can do for a fellow royal." The lady in the blue dress says to Samantha, completely sincere this time.

Samantha and I both bow and then leave.

"What's Lazarus?" I ask.

"A liquid created by the Guaishou. A holy concoction. A sacred lotion. It has the power to bring the dead back from any injury. It is invaluable." Samantha says.

"Bring people back from the dead? I don't... Are you sure it'll work?" I ask, skeptical.

"Absolutely. The Guaishou have remained in power ever since they took the throne in China, years and years ago, regardless of assassination attempts. Bombs, bullets, blades, each member of their faction has been killed by at least one of these things, but Lazarus can recover them from any scope." She says back.

I simply stay quiet, chewing the information over in my head. If what she's saying is true, Sancti really is going to be okay. If what she's saying is true, Samantha Regina just became the most powerful girl on Earth. The Guaishou may manufacture it, but as far as I know, they don't have a standing army, and they're a long way from home. Regina may only have eight dead centurions combined with about thirty mercenaries she picked up when we started moving North, but if she can keep bringing them back from the dead with a consistent supply of Lazarus, there's not a force in the world that can stop her.

\--

We've applied Lazarus treatment and baths to the dead Centurions with the help of a surprisingly knowledgeable doctor we picked up. He never introduced himself. Never spoke much, either. Him and Samantha always duck into back tents when they need to speak. He creeps me out. I can't see his face, or any of his skin, for that matter. He wears gray rags and bracelets made of skin, hair, and bone. The weirdest part about him is the mask he wears, though. It's a literal human skull, chopped and carved to make him look like some kind of witch doctor. They've all come back to life, so far, but I can't shake an odd feeling about them. They don't speak anymore, and their skin remains pale. They're Samantha's puppets. I guess Lazarus is even more useful than I gave it credit for. Sancti's still out, but alive, at least. She's breathing. Samantha says we can expect her to awake soon. I'm afraid of what will happen when she does.

We've picked up an additional twelve members to our group, including the witch doctor. The most noteworthy of our newcomers is a Russian guy named Dmitri. He's about eight feet tall and has muscle to match. Apparently it's some kind of disease, means he won't really live to see old age if the complications have their way, but he's still a perfect fit. He's also the only one to turn down armor and a weapon. Samantha had new armor and weapons made for us, all of it having a red color scheme, and her shiny new sigil, an insignia of a ram's head with a red background. I suppose Sancti and Samantha were both right. We won't be seeing home again, and we're certainly traitors to the homeland. We're no longer Romans. We're Red.

\--

I'm in a medical tent set up on near one of the rifts created by the faultline. It's been abadoned though, stripped of anything useful and left as a sign of the destruction here. Samantha has moved in and is using it as a base of operations, for now. Sancti's been out for about four days, dead for one. I'm losing hope, but I still refuse to leave her side, twiddling my thumbs and waiting for her to wake up. Samantha keeps trying to tear me away from her bed, sending me out on errands, but I always come back. I've been sitting here for almost twenty four hours, with a couple pee breaks in between, before Samantha enters the tent.

"She may never awake, my Son. Your attention would be better spent elsewhere." She says before giving a dramatic sigh.

"Samantha, I have a question, if you don't mind." I say, changing the subject.

"Mother." She corrects me. "Call me Mother."

I pause for a second and make a mental note.

"Right. Mother. Lazarus can heal non-lethal injuries as well, right? Heal scars and such?" I ask, nodding to her.

"You are correct." She says hesitantly, probably unsure as to where I was going with this.

"Then why hasn't that scar on the side of your face healed?" I ask, motioning to the stitches on her cheek, the injury courtesy of Sancti.

Samantha thinks over it for a moment, feeling her cheek.

"I'm not sure. Lazarus will not take to me, for some reason. Perhaps due to my divinity." She speculates.

"Oh. That's not good." I say in response, looking back at Sancti.

"No, I suppose it isn't." She responds, equally distant.

"I like her, you know. Like, like like her. I'd appreciate it if you didn't hold the whole 'attempted murder' thing against her, once she wakes up." I say, still looking at Sancti.

Samantha walks over to me, her platform heels clicking against the rocky floor. She strokes my hair softly, looking down at Sancti with me.

"It is understandable. She reminds me of myself. I must confess I harbor fondness for her as well. I will treat her as one of my own and grant her the mercy a child deserves, do not worry. Her hatred will fade, in time." She assures me.

I smile softly and nod.

"Thanks, Samantha." I say.

"Mother." She says, correcting me.

She then bows to me and exits the tent, leaving me and the unconscious Puella alone. It's a few hours more, with me occasionally drifting off to sleep in my chair, before she wakes up. She gives a gasp and arches her back in her bed, restrained, truly returning to life. My heart leaps into my throat as I fight back tears of joy.

"She's awake!" I yell.

\--

"Your armor, sire." Eve says, bowing to me a bit.

I look over the box she wheeled in. Eve is a Royal Handmaid, the only one I know of. She's dressed in some kind of erotic mockery of our uniform, some underwear emblazoned with the symbol of the ram. I have no clue why Mother would dress her in it, but I have a feeling I wouldn't want to know. Rigby is with her, a sort of male counterpart. He's odd, and quiet, but I like him. He's good with women, and Mother certainly likes him. The only thing that really bothers me is that creepy mask he's always wearing. He wears a suit, kind of like Dmitri, but he's always got a top hat and a creepy, grinning mask made out of clay or something. It's really unsettling.

"Is it like Sancti's armor?" I ask, grinning and beginning to open the box and slide out the steel pieces.

"Sort of." She responds, grinning at me.

"Not really." Rigby says.

I finish getting everything out, a few pokes from the thorns on the armor drawing blood. I lift up the helmet, looking at the fearsome visor and large horns.

It's nothing like Sancti's armor.

\--

Sancti and I walk back from the throne room, some conflicted emotions stirring inside of me. I've got a shiny new title and an easy new job, but Sancti was just married off to my younger brother right in front of me. On our way back, we split up, living in near-opposite sides of the castle. On my way, Eve starts walking with me, much to my surprise. I pull off my helmet, smiling at her.

"Hey there." I say to her.

"Sorry about what happened, back there." She says, getting right to the point.

"Oh, about Sancti? It's cool. I'm happy for Deformes. Sancti is, uh, cool." I say awkwardly.

"You still have a chance, you know. Deformes isn't exactly charming." She says.

I just smile and shake my head as we reach my room.

"Goodnight, Eve." I say, getting inside and shutting the door.

\--

My hands are shaking and I want to run with every fiber of my being, but Sancti keeps me strong, staying by my side. The smell of burnt flesh and the sounds of screaming and agony fill the air. Monuments crumble, and soldiers throw down their rifles and pledge their allegiance to Samantha Regina, the God Queen.

Washington D.C. is burning.

Samantha is unstoppable.

\--

The kid we're supposed to capture bursts into the main hall, looking for Mother, but I'm the only one waiting for him. His name is Jack Coleman, and apparently he's quite the handful. Mother was hoping to turn him to our cause, but this is the third time he's escaped his cell. Hopefully it'll be the last. He slides to a stop, handgun equipped, staring at me. Sancti approaches on the upper balcony, looking down at us before jumping off, landing with a thud. We both shed our matching shoulder capes and get ready for a fight.

Sancti takes the lead, zig-zagging to dodge Coleman's shots. I bring up the rear, running with my axe carving a path in front of me. Eventually the two of us converge on Coleman and he barely makes out of the way, rolling behind a pillar for a brief respite. Sancti pushes the attack, thrusting her spear quickly, while I slowly drag my axe and give mighty swings aiming to cut the kid in two. He's nimble, I'll give him that. Eventually he splits us up, with me lagging behind thanks to my heavy armor and even heavier weapon. I wind through the pillars in the main hall, accidentally knocking over a statue of Deformes, and see Jack kick Sancti in the chest and make her stumble a little, quickly taking aim with his pistol and firing. Time moves in slow motion. My heart sinks, and I try to make it to them as fast as I can, trying to beat the shot.

The bullet passes through the hollow Ram head on Sancti's armor and I know we've won. I swing my axe quickly and Coleman's forearm is liberated from the rest, a spray of blood hitting the three of us. He falls backwards, staring at the bleeding stump in disbelief, his face going pale. Mother walks onto the balcony overseeing the hall, smiling.

"Finish him!" She calls out to us.

I nod to Sancti and she steps up, stepping on Coleman's chest to keep him in place before driving her spear through his neck. He gives a few gurgles and sputters, struggling against his inevitable death, before going limp, an expression of shock and fear on his bug-eyed face.

"Excellent! You two performed well! Executioner Filius and Inquisitor Puella, truly a pair to be feared! The Infants and Neophytes will hear the story of how you slayed Jack Coleman, the boy threatening to overthrow our regime!" She says, overjoyed.

Me and Sancti simply look at each other.

"I'm glad you're okay." I say to her.

"Same to you. The boy was dangerous. Without you, a second shot would have surely killed me." She says, pulling her spear from Jack's neck.

"Don't mention it. I would have jumped in the way if it would have saved you." I say.

She simply looks at me, and I suddenly feel like an idiot. I'm sure she's going to get awkward about it, but she pulls me close, hugging me, the thorns on my armor scraping against her golden plates.

"As with you, Fortis. I can scarcely think of a world where I do not have you as my friend." She says quietly to me before breaking off the hug and walking away, off to clean her armor, probably.

I go weak in the knees, sitting on the stone floor. That seals it.

I am hopelessly and most definitely in love with the girl called Sancti Puella.

I wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
